Poet Profile

Polona Oblak

For 40 years or so Polona had no affinity and was convinced she had no talent for any kind of creative writing. Then she attended an advanced ESL course and, shortly afterwards, discovered haiku on the web. Since the first publication in Letni časi in 2005, her work has appeared worldwide. Polona can occasionally be seen ambling with her camera in the fields and hills around Ljubljana.

Awards and Other Honors: Second Prize, 10th International Kusamakura Haiku Competition (2005); Second Place, 8th Annual Poets' Choice Kukai (2010); Merit Award, ITO-EN (2011); Honorable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitational (2011); Prize Winner, 13th HIA haiku contest (2011).

receding thunder
cherry petals line
the storm drain

the neighbour's
unkempt lawn...
all these butterflies

after the freight train thistledown

heat shimmers
the flicker
of a lizard's tongue

dusty seashell
the words he whispered
in my ear

wind turbines
grind the sunset
summer's end

Credits: "receding thunder" - Honorable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitational (2011); "after the freight train" - Notes From the Gean 3:1; "dusty seashell" - First Place, Shiki Kukai (December 2006); big sky: The Red Moon Anthology of English-language Haiku 2006 (Red Moon Press, 2007); Letni časi 28-29; "the neighbour's" - First Place, Shiki Kukai (July 2010); Second Place, 8th Annual Poets' Choice Kukai (2010); "heat shimmers" - A Hundred Gourds 1:1; "wind turbines" - The Heron's Nest XIII:4 (2011).